Tricky Trig
by 3mm3a
Summary: Brian's ancient education soon comes into play with a new case.
1. Chapter 1

Hi,

I haven't posted anything in a while but this came to me when we received our new timetables. :)

I don't own new tricks or anything in the story really. Hehehe :P

Reviews welcome as I have remembered my email password now so will get notifications through sooner!

I'm hopeless... Anyway, enjoy!

Em x

Tricky Trig

"What's Pythagoras got to do with this Brian?" Sandra shouted from her office after overhearing his theory on their currently 'stuck' case.

"The insurance claims invalid!" He stated with confidence as Sandra made her way over to the desk, bewildered.

"What do you mean 'invalid'? That's a big step Brian!"

The man at the heart of this investigation was a Henry Neth. A british builder who fell from a ladder whilst working but died. This meant that the wife had a hefty insurance claim and they had had a tip off that the whole thing had been planned but went drastically wrong. So being 11 years old, UCOS were left to work it out.

"Well." Brian began as he began to draw a sketchy right angled triangle on a piece of paper. "Do you remember this from school, Sandra?" He queried looking up from the page from a moment, waiting for an answer.

She shook her head. "Why do I have any reason to remember Pythagoras? I'm a police officer: not a maths teacher! Although sometimes I think it would be easier and more fun to be honest!" She was getting moody now.

"Pythag is a formula used to work out a hypotenuse of a line" Brian explained, to recap the ancient lessons of their childhood.

"A what?!" Gerry interrupted.

"Hypotenuse. The longest length of a right angle triangle and always opposite the right angle." Brian recited, as if knowing that the question would be asked.

"So?" Sandra bluntly questioned.

"Well. It's worked out by squaring the base and height of a triangle and adding them together, before square rooting them."

"Thanks for the maths class Brian. But what relevance does this bear on the case?" Sandra asked again. Brian was always so precise and lengthy about his explanations.

"From the scene report, we have the measurements of the ladder that Henry fell from. The ladder leant 11m high on the wall and was 5.1 metres from the wall itself. This is where Pythagoras comes in. From this we can find out the actual length of the ladder. Which was..." Brian trailed off as he punched the figures into his calculator .

"Equals 12.124 metres. The ladder was 12.124 metres long!" Brian's voice was triumphant but Sandra and Gerry were still in the dark on its importance.

"And this means?" Sandra asked.

As if on queue, Brian arose from his chair and retrieved an official looking file.

"And here, in the insurance contract, that Henry's insurance company insured accidents and faults on ladders 12 metres or less."

A smile crept across Sandra's face. There was suddenly a breakthrough on this impossible case.


	2. Chapter 2

Wasn't sure whether another chapter would work but oh well! Reviews more than welcome and thanks for reading! :)

Within an hour, the insurance company had been contacted to inform them of the recent discovery and Sandra was on her way to surprise the suspect of a wife, with Gerry.

As they sped along the road, Sandra at the absolute limit, Gerry broke the silence and Sandra's train of thought too.

"Does it ever bother you Sandra?" He asked vaguely.

Sandra took a brief moment to glance over at him before returning to her driving.

"Does what bother me?"

"Well, we spent so much time at school. How much of it do you actually remember?"

She sighed before answering.

"It does make me wonder just how much of it was wasted but then, you never knew that at the time, did you? I got an A in maths and english, a D in geography and a B in all three sciences. And yet, I have needed only 40% of the maths topics we learnt, that by the way includes percentage, although the analytical skills are critical, I haven't needed to prove how love is presented in Shakespeare, I haven't needed to explain how volcanoes are formed within my line of work and I very much doubt electrolysis is going to be on our 'TO-DO' list! Yeah. I do wonder what the point in half the stuff we learnt actually is and just how many people would need it in their lives, but I do know (as I did then) that lifestyle and circumstances can change in an instant so you don't know where you'll be in life."

There was a silence whilst Gerry processed this answer.

"Ok." He shrugged.

Sandra looked at his thoughtful expression, wondering how he took it and what he thought about her.

"Why? Do you?" She replied to his silence.

"Hmm... I'm not sure really. Sometimes I wonder just how useful that time was and how it could be better used but it was how things were. And still are really. But that's in the past and the more time you waste regretting it now, the more time it has wasted in the long run. It's not like we could have got the qualifications without it. So I suppose it had some use!"

They pulled up outside their suspect's property. They were going to get some answers.


	3. Chapter 3

Final chapter for this story. Thank you for reading and hope it's an appropriate ending! Reviews welcome and enjoy! Really liked this fic idea, although a tiny one. Hopefully will be posting more regularly but having trouble with ideas! Thanks! Emily x

As they walked up to the door, Sandra thought about just how cleverly planned out this had been. Although criminal, the whole plan of Henry falling from the ladder was inventive. The stereotypical claims would involve burning buildings and tragically common accidents. But this: no wonder that nobody questioned it! The probablility of Hnery dying was minute. There was such a small chance that it was almost impossible, especially from the height he was last seen at. So the devastation that Sonia Neth must have felt when being told this news. The shock must have been imense.

Gerry knocked on the door as they both waited for an answer. Sonia came to the door smiling and completely unaware of their discovery.

"Can we come in please?" Sandra firmly and officially requested.

Sonia knew. Her face dropped slightly but picked back up almost instantly. It would be closure for her. A way out of guilt. But she didn't have to expect the money, did she? If guilt got to her that much then she would have refused. Although that would have meant a pointless death. A loss of life for absolutely nothing.

As soon as they walked in, she was already confessing. The fear in her voice was evident but she tried to mask it nonetheless.

"It was Henry's idea. He wanted us to have a holiday away with his sister, Sophie. She was diagnosed with a brain tumor 2 months before Henry's death, with only 6 months to live. He was going to surprise her and wanted her last moths to be memorable. He was willing to harm himsef for her. And that's why he did it. Not because we would be better off. Not because he wanted an easy life and a way out of working for a while. Not to relieve the stresses of mortage and bill payments. Because he cared." By this time, her eyes were welling up but she forced back the tears. "And before you ask, I took the insurance money, yes. But gave all £17,546 to Sophie and her family. I explained why Henry did it and what he was going to do with the money. Obviously, there was more due to the circumstances..."

Sandra had to stay strong. "Although what you did was wrong, I can fully understand why. But there was one small problem. The claim was invalid."

"What?!" Sonia exclaimed. "But Sophie's dead!"

Sandra always played by the rules. But this time, the book was not going to be followed.

"I know. But bviously, this would have to be sent to the insurance company for them to deal with. As long as it wasn't murder, it's not really our problem. We just put together the evidence against you and send it to them to sort-"

"No! Please!" Sonia was in tears now. The deep worry in her eyes blocked out any other emotion.

"Officially. But what if this paperwork was to go missing?" Sandra felt weird saying this. She was always so 'by the book'. This radical act made Gerry stare at her in disbelief.

"Thank you." She whispered as tears still fell.

They left Sonia, who still couldn't believe her luck over such a misfortune, with a grin on Sandra's face.

"Where the hell did that come from?!" Gerry remarked as they got into the car.

"Sometimes, the rules cause more destruction than it's worth. And that's not what this is all about. A good police officer understands their community and can be trusted. They get on well with those they are there to help and do there best. You know, like a teacher. There's no point in being able to get results,if you can't be trusted and aren't any fun."

There was silence again. But a nice silence. Sandra smiled subtly as she felt, yet again, her boys had had another positive impact on her. Never before would she have acted in that way. And Gerry was feeling amazing too. This was the influence he had made. And even if in his life, he only ever influenced one person, it was one life he had affected and he was glad it was Sandra's.


End file.
